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Topic: New saw came back beat up (Read 4027 times)

I bought a new Dolmar 6100 It will be a year old in April of 2018. I've had it in to the dealer 3 or 4 times because of issues with it not running right. The last time, they sent it to the Dolmar/Makita factory shop. All the Makita did was adjust the carb which of course means they didn't fix anything. The problem only shows up when it's really cold out.

Anyway, this saw has never been set on a hard surface. When I put oil and fuel in it, I lay it on a towel. I normally don't treat a saw that gently but I wanted to keep this one in nice shape and it's still pretty new. It doesn't go anywhere. I keep it in my shop and I walk outside and cut wood and it goes back in the shop and when I set it down it sets on a dirt floor with the chain resting up so that it's out of the dirt.

When I've hauled it to the dealer, it goes inside of a plastic bag and then I put it in a cardboard box.

This is what it looked like when I got it back today.

All that missing paint is brand new. Wasn't like that when I dropped it off. Also, the chain guide is dinged up and has a tear in it.

Should I rake the dealer over the coals and demand a new saw or am I being too critical?

They've tried to be decent to work with in getting this saw fixed but I'm not happy that my new saw is looking like this already.

Do you have the serial numbers on your original saw? It sounds as though they gave you someone else's saw. I'd complain, and do so as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the less credible your complaint will seem to them.

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If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. - Abraham Maslow

Wow!! Something went on with that saw. The paint worn off,probably they will just repaint it. But that bent chain catcher took something to bend that.I would be decent about it,and I bet they will fix it for ya.Who knows what happened when it was sent out.

I'm less concerned about the chain catcher then I am the missing paint. I was trying to take care of this saw and keep it looking like new. I've never done that with a saw before. But it looked like new when I handed it over to the dealer.

So at first I thought maybe you were being a bit sensitive about the whole thing, then I put it in the context of if I had sent off a piece of equipment that I had taken great care of and it returned in that condition.

Well, that led to me flipping over my 3 year old 372 that rides in the skidder and fells for it's living. This is not a saw that is set on a towel or otherwise babied, nor is it abused, it simply works for a living and is treated with the care due an expensive piece of equipment. The photo is of my saw bottom. After looking at it I agree you have a very valid complaint and should address it with the dealership. There is a good chance that is not your saw is my guess.

Well I am like southside, and didn't pay a lot of attention to the damage at first, cuz my saws are work saws and have never been babied. That said after looking at pictures of his I went and looked at my OLD 266, and there is no telling how many miles it has rode in the back of the pickup and it looks no worse, maybe even better than his 372. I have to wonder if the powder coating or what ever it is they coat these saws with is not thinner on new saws, or maybe even dolmar uses something different. It does make one wonder how yours got the paint rubbed off that quick, when I compared it to mine and knowing what kind of life mine has led.

Chain catcher is bent enough that it needs to be replaced anyway, so they at least owe you that. The deal with the paint rubbed off is a little different. That corner even looks a little rounded off, so it got rubbed pretty good there. If there is a bucking spike on the saw, that didn't happen while cutting.

When you are trying to find a problem that isn't obvious, you have to put some run time on the saw. But a shop throwing the chain? And calling tech service now and then is OK, but good shops don't have to send a saw to the factory. Which brings up: Is this thing fixed and running right yet?

One problem here is that the saw really isn't new, even though the owner kept it looking that way. It's a year old. So a new saw isn't likely here, but they really should make a gesture of some kind. This is a mess for sure.

it shouldn't matter if the saw is a 100 years old should not come back looking like that if i barrowed your 3year old saw that looked like new and returned it looking like a 10 year old saw you would be pithed off to

I was too disgusted yesterday, to look the saw over closer, after the wife got home from picking up the saw. I had to cut with it tonight so I shot some more photos. Everything with a blue arrow is damage caused by either the dealer or the Makita service center.

Not to add to your misery but looking at the last photo there appears to be a tool mark on the handle that lines up with the arrow lowest and to the right. The left most arrows in the same photo appear to be teeth marks from a pair of pliers. Makes it look like it was wrenched into a vice or something.

I brought a cutter bar off a Kuhn disc mower to a "machine shop" one time to have a wallowed out bearing hole fixed - the guys work came off looking a lot like what your saw does, it was a complete mess. It is amazing how many hacks there are out there.

Thanks for looking over the photos and sharing your thoughts. I'm in contact with the Makita service center. The lady I emailed the photos to is going to show them to her boss. She wanted me to send the saw back but I can't do that. I burn 20 cords a year and I only cut enough wood for a day or two at a time. I can't be without a saw. The dealer was kind enough to give me a loaner while my saw was at Makita. Hopefully they will look over the photos and agree that there is no excuse for a customer saw to be beaten up like that.

It ran fine tonight. I don't expect to see any problems with it though until next December or January when it gets cold again. To me it acts like something expands and sucks air where it shouldn't but it's hard to say.

The dealer took it home last weekend after it came back from Makita. He ran 2 tanks through it. He told me today that it went into the trunk of his car, then to the woods where it was set on the ground. In other words, he was saying he didn't do anything that would have caused the damage.

Makita, on the other hand, put the saw into some kind of machine where they run it for about an hour (so I was told) under varying loads. Who knows if it fell out of the machine or what?